Monday, 18 August 2008

The Ten Best WWF Wrestlers Of My Time

5Triple H

The list thankfully jumps up a whole notch for the second half of wrestlers, all of whom can be honestly called legendary figures. Triple H is perhaps one of the most consistent performers in the business, a man who has been up at the top of the business for years and years and years. I don’t know a time when he wasn’t one of the biggest names in the sport. Despite of this, people seem to gloss over the man formerly known as Hunter Hurst Helmsey (I cannot spell, this is presumably not the correct way to write his name, but you don’t read Wilftonville for the research, do you?) He doesn’t get the respect he deserves, I think, even though he has been in almost all the great matches of the past ten years. He fought one in two of the best matches ever: the two hell in a cell matches against Cactus Jack and Shaun Michaels showed a mix of crowd-pleasing stunts and brutal fighting, topped with astounding athleticism. The key to HHH’s career, however, I think is probably his stamina. He can hold out a match like nobody else.

A lot of matches go through the motions, where you get one guy winning, then another, then someone wins. HHH doesn’t usually go for this, instead mixing around his matches. When he fought The Undertaker in a fascinating match at Wrestlemania, the bout ended with perhaps ten minutes of HHH getting the crap knocked out of him. The drama lay not in seeing two wrestlers alternate their supremacy, but in waiting to see if HHH would cheat to win the match, or not (he did cheat, but lost anyway). See, with HHH the fun all lies in watching to see where he will go next. He can wrestle and brawl with anyone, and in his time has been allowed to take on all the top names in entertainment – he’s done cage matches, iron man matches, ladder matches, tag teams… he’s done just about everything. He’s fought every big wrestler, and a number of lesser wrestlers. Each time, you don’t know where the match will go.

His persona, you see, is that of a complete prick. He sucks up to authority in order to get the advantage in his matches, and because of this you never know just how he will win or lose a match. He’s lost to novices, he’s cheated to beat superior forces, and he’s spent entire matches dominating someone before pinning them (poor Jeff Hardy). It’s so unpredictable, and HHH plays his character extremely well. He’s got incredible charisma, which you can see when he walks into the arena. He seems to believe himself invincible, and you honesty can understand how he got to the position he’s in today. He’s a riveting performer, and perhaps one of the more complex and tricky wrestling personas in the game today. He also has a sledgehammer as a weapon. Cool!

2 comments:

I don't think you spelt HHH's first name wrong but you did HBK's, lol! Fair play - Trips really does know and is very passionate about the business but the whole sledgehammer thing annoys me. JR often says it is 'the great equaliser' - is the guy rubbish without it or something? Is he not as good as his opponents unless he has the house hold tool with him? Anyway, I digress - he's ok in small doses but him having the title a lot of the time in 2002/03/04 got really boring. But he can work well as either a heel or a face so good for him!